Do you know what it is like to be in the body of a student with a severe cognitive disability? Every small task that we take for granted is a struggle for my students.
My students are middle school age and participate in a specialized program for students with severe cognitive and multiple disabilities in our local school district.
The students have a wide range of abilities and our main goal is to teach them basic life skills that they will need to be successful adults.
The highest student I currently have is at the pre-kindergarten level. Progress is made in small increments and repetitive practice and new skills are introduced in small manageable parts. Each year a new IEP is made, the skills to be learned become more refined and become the basis of my curriculum. With the varied needs of each student, materials are needed to be able to meet those needs and ensure student success.
My Project
I am requesting a variety of manipulative math materials that will assist my students gain the basic math skills they need to be successful in working and life skills as an adult. Students need to learn to sort, count, identify numbers, time, patterns, and money.
During our daily math time, I will be able to have each student work on a math center that they will bring to their workstation. As the students master the skills in any given workstation, they will move on to a new and more challenging skill. Each day they will become closer to living an independent life on their own.
With the current state of education funding, my students have been feeling the pinch more so than other special education programs.
Money has been driven toward students who take the state assessments rather than my students who do an alternative assessment. My students deserve funding for new educational materials just as much as the rest of the students. Even though they have severe disabilities and cannot talk, they still have a lot to learn and a lot to say.
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Ms. Filippelli and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.